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I remember that wonderful day in 2007 when I noticed that there was a little news aggregator bodged onto the back end of Paul Graham's essay blog and I thought

I remember that wonderful day in 2007 when I noticed that there was a little news aggregator bodged onto the back end of Paul Graham's essay blog and I thought to myself "wow, this is like /. only it doesn't suck so much".

sabat 14y ago
LOL, I had roughly the same experience. I'd already moved onto Digg (before it was went downhill) and then to Reddit. But if I'm looking for more serious (if sometimes negative) technology conversation, this right here is the epicenter.
- bduerst 14y ago
  I agree - Digg is a good example of how creators can kill a community, and Reddit is a good example of how overall community quality is inversely related to size.
- ThomPete 14y ago
  This was exactly my experience. /. then Digg and then Reddit. I got tired of reddit being too political and too liberal (although I am a liberal myself) so I was hoping/looking for something else. Then in a StackOverflow podcast Jeff and Joe was talking about a new place where all the cool kids hung out. They didn't want to say the name in fear of it being overrun and ruined. With a little research I found HN and haven't left since.
  - frewsxcv 14y ago
    "I got tired of reddit being too political and too liberal (although I am a liberal myself) so I was hoping/looking for something else." Unsubscribe from /r/politics
    - ThomPete 14y ago
      Well back then I was just reading the main feed.
      - VonGuard 14y ago
        This is the same path I took too. It must be a really obvious cycle we're all participating in. When a community gets to some set size, the number of cock-gobbling assholes who post mean things that contribute nothing becomes larger than the smart and thoughtful people. I swear, this almost always occurs right around the same time that these news sites start complaining about not making enough money...
        felipemnoa 14y ago
        The question is, is there some other group that has already superseded HN? I haven't heard of any thus far. HN is still pretty good though so I have not bothered to look.
        ThomPete 14y ago
        my thoughts exactly. The only group I could think of is LessWrong but that's a different main topic and can hardly be called superseding HN.
        VonGuard 14y ago
        Lobste.rs The thinking there is: Only links about development of software, no entrepreneurial stuff.
        VMG 14y ago
        seems as if there also isn't any comments stuff
        hnriot 14y ago
        it's the old community chicken & egg problem, people go for the comments, but unless there are enough 'seed' users the comments aren't there to attract the others. Then along come the trolls and disruptors and before you know it, the community forks and the whole process starts over.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - felipemnoa 14y ago
    >>Then in a StackOverflow podcast Jeff and Joe was talking about a new place where all the cool kids hung out. They didn't want to say the name in fear of it being overrun and ruined.<< That is the same way I found out about this place. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, one led to the other.
dredmorbius 14y ago
There should be a rule of clue flight somewhere. But it's a highly established pattern: great minds seek out a high s/n forum, it becomes established. Over time the s/n ratio falls. How long that is varies greatly (this is a problem that greatly pre-dates the Internet), and can be affected by various exclusion mechanisms (moderation, subscription, rate-limiting, etc.). Eventually, though, most forums fall prey to low-value contributors. There may still be gems (and often there are more and bigger/brighter gems even in the age of noise than in the heralded golden age, there's just a heck of a lot more noise), but the perception is of spoiled ground.
autophil 14y ago
Yeah, but /. was the shiz for a long time. I joined in 1998 and it dominated my online social life for about 5 years. The day of 9/11, the release of Linux kernel 2.4, and when my story submission got published were all memorable events for me there. Probably a big reason I'm divorced now.

sabat 14y ago

LOL, I had roughly the same experience. I'd already moved onto Digg (before it was went downhill) and then to Reddit. But if I'm looking for more serious (if sometimes negative) technology conversation, this right here is the epicenter.

bduerst 14y ago
I agree - Digg is a good example of how creators can kill a community, and Reddit is a good example of how overall community quality is inversely related to size.
ThomPete 14y ago
This was exactly my experience. /. then Digg and then Reddit. I got tired of reddit being too political and too liberal (although I am a liberal myself) so I was hoping/looking for something else. Then in a StackOverflow podcast Jeff and Joe was talking about a new place where all the cool kids hung out. They didn't want to say the name in fear of it being overrun and ruined. With a little research I found HN and haven't left since.
- frewsxcv 14y ago
  "I got tired of reddit being too political and too liberal (although I am a liberal myself) so I was hoping/looking for something else." Unsubscribe from /r/politics
  - ThomPete 14y ago
    Well back then I was just reading the main feed.
    - VonGuard 14y ago
      This is the same path I took too. It must be a really obvious cycle we're all participating in. When a community gets to some set size, the number of cock-gobbling assholes who post mean things that contribute nothing becomes larger than the smart and thoughtful people. I swear, this almost always occurs right around the same time that these news sites start complaining about not making enough money...
      - felipemnoa 14y ago
        The question is, is there some other group that has already superseded HN? I haven't heard of any thus far. HN is still pretty good though so I have not bothered to look.
        ThomPete 14y ago
        my thoughts exactly. The only group I could think of is LessWrong but that's a different main topic and can hardly be called superseding HN.
        VonGuard 14y ago
        Lobste.rs The thinking there is: Only links about development of software, no entrepreneurial stuff.
        VMG 14y ago
        seems as if there also isn't any comments stuff
        hnriot 14y ago
        it's the old community chicken & egg problem, people go for the comments, but unless there are enough 'seed' users the comments aren't there to attract the others. Then along come the trolls and disruptors and before you know it, the community forks and the whole process starts over.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- felipemnoa 14y ago
  >>Then in a StackOverflow podcast Jeff and Joe was talking about a new place where all the cool kids hung out. They didn't want to say the name in fear of it being overrun and ruined.<< That is the same way I found out about this place. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, one led to the other.

dredmorbius 14y ago

There should be a rule of clue flight somewhere. But it's a highly established pattern: great minds seek out a high s/n forum, it becomes established. Over time the s/n ratio falls. How long that is varies greatly (this is a problem that greatly pre-dates the Internet), and can be affected by various exclusion mechanisms (moderation, subscription, rate-limiting, etc.). Eventually, though, most forums fall prey to low-value contributors. There may still be gems (and often there are more and bigger/brighter gems even in the age of noise than in the heralded golden age, there's just a heck of a lot more noise), but the perception is of spoiled ground.

autophil 14y ago

Yeah, but /. was the shiz for a long time. I joined in 1998 and it dominated my online social life for about 5 years. The day of 9/11, the release of Linux kernel 2.4, and when my story submission got published were all memorable events for me there. Probably a big reason I'm divorced now.